What if DreamWorks Pictures/DreamWorks Animation was founded in 1934?/Hotel for Dogs
Hotel for Dogs is a 2009 American traditionally-animated comedy film based on Lois Duncan's 1971 novel of the same name, produced by DreamWorks Animation, directed by Thor Freudenthal and Chris Bailey, and adapted by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle (both of Kim Possible fame) along with Jeff Lowell. The film stars the voices of Jake T. Austin, Emma Roberts, Robin Williams, Troy Gentile, Kyla Pratt, Johnny Simmons, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon and Don Cheadle. It tells the story of two orphans, Andi and Bruce (Roberts and Austin), who attempt to hide their talking dog Friday (Williams) at an abandoned hotel after their strict new guardians tell them that pets are forbidden at their home. They also take in other dogs to avoid the dogs being taken away by two cold hearted animal pound workers and police officers. Nearly 80 boys auditioned for the voice role of Bruce before Austin was ultimately selected. The film was released in the United States on January 16, 2009, and grossed approximately $17 million in its opening weekend in 3,271 theaters. Plot In New York City, orphans Andi and Bruce swindle a pawn shop owner in order to buy food to feed their talking dog, Friday. However, they are quickly caught and brought to the police station where they get picked up by social worker Bernie Wilkins who takes them back to their foster parents, Lois and Carl Scudder, who do not appear to care for either Andi or Bruce. Despite his sympathy for the two siblings, Bernie warns them that they are playing a dangerous game by deliberately getting into trouble in order to escape Carl and Lois. The next morning, Friday leaves to go looking for food, only to be caught by Animal Control. Desperate and worried, Andi and Bruce go into a local pet shop to ask if anybody has seen him. They meet two employees Dave and Heather, who advise them to check the pound. They learn that Friday is indeed in the Pound but cannot be claimed without their parents present. While walking home, they discover a gang of youths committing a crime, causing them to flee before the police arrive. They look for Friday, who has already begun to hide in an abandoned hotel. They find a tiny Boston Terrier and an English Mastiff and name them Georgia and Lenny. Confident the three dogs will get along, Andi and Bruce leave Friday at the hotel for the night. The next day, Bruce stays at the hotel to keep the dogs quiet, while Andi heads to the pet shop to get some food for the dogs, where she runs into Dave and Heather. Andi lies to them that their parents often rescue dogs, causing Dave to ask her to take in three more dogs that nobody seems to want to adopt, which she reluctantly agrees. With six dogs to look after, the friends set about trying to get the hotel in a decent state to accommodate the dogs' needs, with help from a local boy named Mark, as they rescue more stray dogs to occupy the hotel. Eventually, Dave invites Andi to a party, which she agrees. Meanwhile, Bruce is caught stealing a hairdryer from Lois and is immediately interrogated by his foster parents. The party is ruined for Andi when she bumps into an old acquaintance who accidentally reveals to everyone that Andi is an orphan. Bruce manages to escape his house, only to find out that the hotel has fallen into chaos. Lois and Carl follow him, while the police are called, and the dogs are found and sent to the Pound, while Bruce and Andi are taken away by the police. When Lois and Carl refuse to take Andi and Bruce back, Bernie is forced to send them to separate foster homes. The dogs are all scheduled to be put down the next day, but Friday manages to escape captivity. He rushes over to find Dave, Heather and Mark, who in turn find Andi and Bruce. Meanwhile, Bernie explores the hotel and realizes why the kids loved doing what they did. Andi and Bruce manage to break into the Pound and release the dogs in an attempt to get them across the county line, where they will be safe. However, the dogs instead make their way towards the hotel, believing it to be their home. The strange event attracts the attention of the police, who follow the dogs to the hotel, causing a large crowd to gather inside the hotel. Bernie appears and tells them how Bruce and Andi managed to create a family of dogs. He introduces all the dogs who live at the hotel and tells the stories of their past owners (which Friday learned and told them to the children), which wins over the crowd, and the police allow the children to keep the dogs together. As people eagerly explore the hotel, Bernie reveals to an overjoyed Andi and Bruce that he and his wife have decided to adopt them. Sometime later, the hotel re-opens as a grand "Hotel For Dogs", where people can either adopt strays or board their dogs, while Andi, Bruce, and Friday happily settle into their new family. Voice cast * Jake T. Austin as Bruce * Emma Roberts as Andi *Robin Williams as as Friday ** Cosmo the Dog is the reference model for Friday. * Johnny Simmons as Dave * Troy Gentile as Mark * Kyla Pratt as Heather * Don Cheadle as Bernie Wilkins * Robinne Lee as Carol Wilkins * Lisa Kudrow as Lois Scudder * Kevin Dillon as Carl Scudder * Yvette Nicole Brown as Ms. Camwell * Gregory Sporleder as ACO Herb Dooley * Eric Edelstein as ACO Max * Ajay Naidu as ACO Jake * Maximiliano Hernández as Officer Mike * Andre Ware as Officer Jeff * Jonathan Klein as Evan * Kenny Vibert as Jason Production Development Hotel for Dogs had an long history of development back in the 1980s, when it was originally intended to be as a live-action feature film, but due to either various problems or Dora Wilson's dislike of the book, it was shelved. However, the film later got revived as an animated film starting on November 2005. TBD Writing Casting Animation Release Box office Critical reception Home media Soundtrack Quotes * Friday: TBD ---- * Andi: (to Friday) You talked? * Bruce: Yeah. We thought dogs only talk in fictions and cartoons. * Friday: But I can now, like you do. What else did you expect me to be? A parrot? ---- * Mark: (has Friday under a jacket) What's the matter? You've never seen a husky kid in a hoodie before? * Friday: Eh. Not actually. ---- * Bernie Wilkins: You sold a guy a rock in a box for $20. ---- * Andi: You know, I think we might be in a little over our heads. * Dave: It's four-six; we're out dogged. ---- * Bruce: If you look at it, dogs have three basic needs. That's-- that's eating, sleeping, and peeing and pooping. * Andi: That's four. * Bruce: No, I think peeing and pooping is one. * Friday: Yep. It looks like one. * Heather: Uh, I've stepped in both and I have to disagree. * Friday: Hey! It wasn't our fault. Bathrooms there are pretty gross, alhough dogs don't use them anyways. ---- (Lois and Carl have discovered the hotel for dogs and find that Andi and Bruce have been stealing from them) * Carl: Hey, there's my wah-wah pedal! No wonder my sound's been off. * Lois: (in disbelief) Yeah, that's why. * Carl: (he looks around the hotel) This crap is amazing. * Lois: Yeah, 'cause it's our crap! They've been robbing us blind! ---- (Lois and Carl have fallen down the poop chute into a dumpster full of bags of dog poop) * Lois: Where are we? * Carl: We're in deep doo-doo. ---- * Carl: (runs into the kids' bedroom while brushing his teeth) Did I leave my whitening strips in here? ---- (In the hotel for dogs, Lenny the dog is howling because the window blind is down) * Woman on cell phone: (talking to police) Yes, I'd like to call in a complaint about a howling dog. (The kids open the window blind and Lenny stops howling) * Woman on cell phone: Um...never mind. ---- * Lois: I'm suing you, I'm suing the state, I'm suing those kids, I'm suing the guy who invented shrink wrap, I'm suing everyone! ---- * Andi: (the police see them where a store was broken into, the thieves just got away) We can't get in trouble again! * Bruce: We didn't do anything. * Andi: You want to tell them that? Tagline * No stray gets turned away. * Who let the dogs in?